Third Season!
by Ikirose
Summary: Now Yui and the others have graduated to University, how will Ui and Azusa cope with their absence around school? More importantly, what will happen to the Sakuragaoka Light Music Club?
1. Missing you

Ui sat up in her bed and listened to the familiar sound of nothing coming from her sister's room. She looked at her clock. It was 6:00 am, she thought it a good time to get up and prepare for the day to start. Ui scurried around her room dressing herself and pulling off her pyjamas before folding them into a neat pile and placing them onto her bed, which was equally well made. She stared at her reflection as she tied up her hair in the dull lighting of the morning hours. "Okay! It's time to go to school" She walked into the kitchen in a trance-like routine and prepared some miso soup and rice for the morning wake-up accompanied by some green tea, she placed it on a tray and sat in front of the television as it flickered away in the now brighter lighting. She occasionally chuckled to herself as the morning television hosts would crack a joke, usually quite a lame pun, but it kept Ui entertained in the morning. After sipping down the last of her tea, she rose gracefully from the small table and carried her tray into the kitchen before humbly washing up all of the cutlery and bowls she had just dirtied and returning them to their rightful places. Ui glanced up at the clock and saw that just under an hour had passed. "Oh damn" she thought in instant retaliation to the time "We'll have to leave soon" she hurriedly paced over to Yui's room before pushing the door slowly open and calling into the room. "Yui, wakey wakey" she called as she smiled, ready to meet her sister's cute morning face.

There was just the made bed that she had looked at for at least the past week. "That's right" Ui moaned to herself in a teary voice. "Onee-chan has gone to University" she mumbled to herself as she slowly walked out of the door, her head firmly down, staring at the floor in disbelief. Ui sat on the stairs that lead to her room outside of Yui's now old room and placed her head in her knees as she assumed a kind of foetal position. She felt the time pass as she just sat there going over her favourite memories of her beloved sister in her head. She thought of how much Yui had grown as a person since joining the light music club and recalled her restless nights listening to Yui strum her guitar, but it comforted her to know that Yui was alright and she knew where she was. Ui's eyes filled up after revisiting these memories and Yui's face kept flashing infront of Ui's eyes. Since she had left, she was also the only one home to fill an entire, empty, quiet house.

She realised that she needed Yui just as much as she depended on Ui. Heck, she knew it all along, but she never knew it would be this hard. Ui heard the TV still buzzing on in the living room and decided to pick herself up and dry her eyes, she had things to get on with, she was sure that Yui probably getting on with her day. But then a thousand images floated into Ui's head of Yui in her small student accommodation with Mugi-chan unable to handle her unreasonable demands for Ice Cream. "No, no!" Ui laughed to herself as she continued her morning hurry around the house. "She'll be fine, they're obviously fine!"

Ui finally packed her bags and left her house at a reasonable time, she always managed to arrive on time, she'd be too embarrassed to be late, it wouldn't do to inconvenience everyone like that. As Ui closed the door she felt the familiar weight of her phone and reached into her pocket to feel it. It was her form of communication with her sister for the time being. She had already had a hundred texts of how Yui was fitting in at her new university and even some pictures of the Light Music Club in Japan's Woman's University, though they had made new friends, they stuck together as Ho-kago tea time, as they knew that there was no one more fun to play with than each other, even though they were still waiting on Azusa to come through, they worked with what they had. Ui flipped open the phone and sent Yui a text asking how she was, doubtless she wouldn't even be up yet, but it helped put her mind at ease that she was fine.

"Gee, this is gonna be hard without her"

The day was fine, as it was the first day of April, the new school year was beginning and she was in her senior year. This was something she extensively pondered as she arrived at a traffic crossing before gazing off into the distance as she waited after pressing the button. "Senior year, huh?" that means I have to decided what University I want to go to myself! I think I should go to Onee-chan's university... but wouldn't that not be fulfilling what I want to do? Surely I should be more independent..." Her thought train was interrupted by a simple image in her mind – her sister spooning down jello into her mouth in front of the family television with that same cutesy smile that she always wore when eating. Ui felt a warm smile come across her own face. "I-I couldn't abandon that! Besides, if I do go to Japan's woman's university, it'd still be great for me, I mean, it's really successful" Ui realised that she was still stood at the traffic crossing, and had been for about 5 minutes now. She scurried across the street and scolded herself for her lack of attention.

"What am I going to do with myself this school year?" Ui thought to herself as she finally passed through the gates and gazed at the sun-kissed beige building in front of her.

"Who knows what'll happen..."


	2. Reformation!

Azusa saw the notice placed on the table of the music room. "Light Music Club closure" It read. It went on too explain an all too familiar scenario encountered by the president of the Light Music Club – 4 members, or face closure. There was another leaf of paper underneath as an application to apply for a club. She filled it out and left it on the table as she sat staring at it blankly. "Club name – Light Music Club, Club President – Nakano Azusa" She smiled to herself as she gazed at the paper which was blank otherwise, thinking of her jubilation on another occasion when Ritsu mentioned she would be president. There was an evening sunset bursting into the room, an orange glow that said that it was getting late, after all, Azusa had dropped by after lessons to take a peek. She loved the room and everything about it, including Ton-chan, who had sat in the corner, he was being fed by Sawako-sensei, as she didn't expect to be going there regularly any time soon. A drum kit sat in the corner of the room, Ritsu had left it as the legacy to the Light Music Club to mark that it was their territory, that and the fact that she didn't have the room to leave it at home when she was at University. "Ritsu's drums look lonely" Azusa thought to herself as her face dropped. She saw the absence of that familiar figure behind them, commandeering them in the usual rushed manner, which was part of her general demeanour, Ritsu's characteristic hyperactivity that seemed to spill out of her. Azusa turned her head and saw the pile of amps that Mio, Yui and herself used back in the days of Ho-kago tea time. She missed them. She placed her hand on her chest and sighed deeply, her voice shaking slightly. Azusa felt her eyes well up and her vision blur.

"Jun-chan, won't you join the Light Music Club?" Azusa asked Jun as they were strolling down the sunlit road with Ui. "Sure, I said I would if you didn't get any members after the initiation ceremony for the juniors didn't I?" "Right, right" Azusa joked back, she turned her attention to Ui. "Ui, I've seen you play the guitar, why don't you come to the Light Music Club? With me, you and Jun, it could be really fun!" Ui stopped walking and entered her own world of thought. "It could be just like the old Light Music Club!" Azusa followed up as she failed to notice Ui fall behind. "Ui?" She turned and saw her with that cute face that Yui usually pulled when she was deep in thought. "Just... like...Onee-chan?" "Yeah!" Azusa smiled enthusiastically. Ui smiled in response to Azusa's cute smile. "I'll definitely think about it" She responded "I think the tea making club will have a thing or two to say about that though" "Wait, wait Azusa" Jun interrupted Ui. "You need a fourth member to continue the club!" Azusa smiled instantly "I've got an idea, there's a certain Junior coming to Sakuragaoka this year that might just be interested in us" She said with some certainty in her voice "And I'm sure that if we will become more approachable as a club now, if you two join, you can help me recruit members, right?"

Ui was sat staring at the club president of the Ceremonial Tea Making Club ready to ask her the question of her opinion on Ui's transfer to the Light Music Club. "Rihoko..." Ui spoke softly, she knew the president was calm of demeanour but had an explosive side – she had seen it when tea was spilt or ceremonies were performed improperly, she didn't want to get on that side of Rihoko. "Yes, Ui-chan?" Rihoko too spoke with a soft tone and smiled lightly as she awaited Ui's response. "I was wondering what you would think if I were too, uh,... switch clubs?" She tried to put as best as she could and in as nice way as possible, she even threw in her best smile to entice her to not be mad. Rihoko's expression changed comically quick, she had manly features under her long brown hair now. "Ui-chan" Rihoko returned in a low tone, clearly annoyed. "Y-y-yes?" She returned with a frightened expression. "GET OUT!" Rihoko boomed as she flipped the table in the air, causing it to do several flips, Ui screamed as she flew backwards out of the room, as she left, she heard Rihoko shouting, "AND NEVER COME BACK!" Ui knew where she wasn't going to show her face any time soon.

Ui poked her head in the door of the Light Music Club to see Azusa and Sawako-sensei having tea. "Excuse my intrusion" She announced in a formal manner as she entered the room. "Oh, Ui" Azusa began, she looked surprised to see her. She was about to leave her seat and greet her before she was interrupted. "Ui-chaaaan!" Sawa-chan instantly changed her demeanour and threw herself at Ui's feet and hugged her bottom half vigorously. "The tea – we can't make it like Mugi-chan or you can – mine tastes icky!" Sawa cried to her. Ui poured some new cups of tea as she saw Sawa-chan's expression change into one of comfort as she slumped into her seat. Ui put the tea pot back in the cupboard that Mugi had left for the Light Music Club, she opened the multiple drawers and saw the amount of tea bags that were left. "It's as if Mugi knew this would happen..." Ui thought to herself as she walked over to the old store room and opened it to see boxes of tea. She was speechless. "Mugi knew Sawako-sensei would be lost without her tea" She laughed to herself. "I guess this means that you're part of the Light Music Club then Ui?" Azusa began after she took a lengthy sip of tea. "Yeah, the Club president didn't take it too well..." Ui replied, laughing nervously towards the end of her sentence. "well either way, I'm still going to be making tea, huh?" Ui laughed again, changing the subject. "Seems that way" Azusa agreed, chuckling with Ui.

Jun was plucking the strings of her bass slowly and deliberately, listening for an inaccuracy in the intonation. "Jun-chan?" The president of the Jazz club spoke to her in her usual manner, Jun could see people behind her looking at Jun, with some degree of expectancy and nervousness. Something was up, Jun knew it. "Yeah?" Jun responded, slightly confused. "Jun, the club is expecting to take on a lot of members this year, as some of the members know of juniors that are ready to join us, and, well, the club is taking on more than they should already, we were just wondering if some of the seniors had other clubs they were available to join if they could to make things easier on us? I know I'm not asking a particularly right or nice thing Jun, and I understand if you want to stay, but do you have any other clubs that you might be interested in?" Jun stared at the president long and hard, she was always nice to Jun and treated the Jazz club like her own child. Jun looked at the head of her bass, it was usually unused in the club, there were seldom chances when Jun was able to successfully play her bass with others, which annoyed her. Her mind instantly jumped to the Light Music Club. Why shouldn't she take this opportunity? "Hmmm..." Jun spoke after her long silence. "Well, there is one place that I could go" She smiled.

"Wh-What?" Azusa spoke with complete astonishment as she leant over the table staring at Jun in complete amazement. Jun was sipping her tea and enjoying it - she wasn't completely ready to have a conversation, and so after she sipped, she took a long pause and breathed out heavily before responding. "I left for the good of the club" Jun spoke deliberately with her eyes firmly shut, and her mug still in her hand. "Really? You sure you just didn't want to join us badly here? Feel you were missing out, Jun?" Azusa joked with Jun. "No, no, They wanted to make room for the juniors and wanted to know how many seniors had other options on, so... I volunteered to leave" She spoke as if she was basking in a sense of self-superiority, she displayed maturity – sacrificing herself for the club, or so she thought. "I see, I see" Ui joined into the conversation as she followed it up with a sip of her steaming tea. "At any rate, the new Light Music Club is formed!" Azusa spoke with a large grin on her face and a feeling of happiness. "Uh,... Azusa..." Sawako-sensei interrupted quickly. "You, uh... need four members..." Azusa's slammed into the desk. "Didn't you have someone in mind though Azusa?" Azusa instantly rose and began laughing cockily "That's right I did!" Azusa was rejuvenated by Jun's intervention. "Then, who is it? c'mon, tell us!" Ui spoke excitedly. "Heh, well..." Azusa began.

"Her name..."

The three were visibly moving towards Azusa as she spoke slowly.

"...Is..."

They grew closer yet.

"Akiyama Natsumi"

"Eh?"


	3. NotsoAkiyama

appreciating everyone's comments. Lotta love for you guys. I'll try and write so it's easier on the eyes and play around with it, thanks for the advice/constructive criticism, keep it coming if that's cool with you.

Please continue to read my fic and hopefully enjoy it. BWAHAH CHAPTER 3.

* * *

Natsumi's eyes opened and she could saw a blurred version of her ceiling through her long eyelashes.

"Ugh, this new school sucks" she thought to herself.

"Why can't I just go back to Middle School where everything was easier?"She rolled over, gazing at an old photograph of her last day of Middle School.

"I was so happy" Natsumi felt a hurtful yearning that made her throat swell and her eyes fill with tears.

She shot up out of her bed and to her feet, slapping her face as she snapped out of her painful nostalgia. She couldn't keep this up or she'd end up depressed. She'd need to get up and move on with her life.

-.

Natsumi was eventually up and ready to go, she glanced at the mirror near her front door to measure exactly how scruffy she looked. Her short, dark brown hung just above her shoulders, it was straight and messy, usually pieces were flicking out, making her look somewhat scruffy and had a side fringe that swept across her forehead, just above her eyes.

Her wide black eyes were characteristically Akiyama-like, she was on the short side, usually shorter than all her friends, still keeping her slender physique, she considered herself a bit on the slim side for her liking and thought that she looked a bit like a scarecrow with her scruffy hair and thin, short limbs.

Her complexion was pale and smooth, interrupted by a flush of red in her cheeks that seemed to always be on her face. She saw her small nose and her wide smile that always seemed present. She always thought it a small mystery why she had always wore it so boldly. Natsumi always seemed to have a glowing demeanour and a happy personality.

And with that, she dashed out of the door.

The door slammed shut behind Natsumi as she wobbled out of her front garden, fixing her bow as she did so.

"Ugh, at this rate I'm gonna be late again" She thought to herself, as she munched on the toast that she hadn't managed to finish in time.

-.

Natsumi sat through class on the left hand side of her class gazing out of the window to her left. Some birds flew past in formation and made her dream of some similar freedom.

"Okay class" the teacher said, Natsumi never really paid much attention to her, she was just pretty to look at. "We're going to be deciding the class representative today..." She began. Natsumi had no such interest in those matters, she was cut out for any of that kind of activity. Natsumi placed her head on the table and shut her eyes.

She was interrupted by the sound of the class standing up and leaving the room. "Ugh, it's already lunch" Natsumi thought to herself.

"Akiyama-san?" The girl in front of her began speaking to her, she'd never spoken to her before, even after their first week of school.

"Eh?" Natsumi lazily replied as her head rose and tried to focus on the girl's face with her blurry vision.

"Do you want to eat lunch together? I'm Aoi by the way, I don't really know anyone that well yet" She smiled innocently.

"So cute..." Natsumi thought to herself as she sat up and replied: "Sure, nice to meet you Aoi" Wearing a friendly smile, after all, she hadn't made any friends too.

"So you came from a Middle School all by yourself too huh?" Natsumi asked her with her mouth full of rice.

Aoi flinched at Natsumi's strange conduct. "Y-yes"

"Ah, I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear that" Natsumi laughed "I didn't know what to do all by myself" Natsumi was laughing out loud all by herself now.

Aoi was timid by polite and timid by nature, so this put her in an awkward spot. Aoi was a tall, spindly girl who looked years beyond her actual age, she had light brown hair that had a natural wave as it fell to her shoulders. She always seemed to have a kind smile on her face and looked pure and innocent.

-.

"Please join the Caligraphy Club!"

"Come join us at the Literature club!"

Natsumi and Aoi were showered by leaflets on their way out of the school. Natsumi had heard that this happened every year with all the new students coming into the school.

"Wow, look at all these leaflets!" Aoi was in her own world sorting through the various sheets of paper with colourful characters plastered across them.

"What's wrong with you?" Natsumi began. "They all look booooring" She hadn't even read all of the leaflets, let alone give them a chance.

"Student council?" Aoi was gazing lovingly at the plain paper now, but it was a tale of two stories as Natsumi seemingly could not possibly care less about anything like that.

"I guess that's the stuff you go for eh?" Natsumi said, establishing Aoi's personality.

-.

Natsumi and Aoi had become good friends and seemed to do everything together "Good morning!"

Natsumi called to Aoi at their meeting point, running towards her, Aoi was very tolerant of Natsumi's tardiness.

"Sorry again Aoi" Natsumi managed to say after she continued walking with Aoi, out of breath from running. "I swear my alarm clock doesn't actually work" Natsumi scratched the back of her head, clawing for an excuse, Aoi didn't care, but Natsumi still felt bad for her.

Natsumi and Aoi were sat at lunch again, going over the many leaflets handed them about the clubs they wanted to join.

"I'm fairly positive that I want to join the Student Council" Aoi finally said as she faced Natsumi with her usual kind looking smile.

"ehh?" Natsumi exclaimed, she couldn't believe that she was so indecisive herself. Well, that or she just wasn't that drawn in by the other clubs.

She looked through her final stack of club leaflets that she was to decide on. "Well" she began to Aoi, hoping for some counsel on the matter. "There's Tea Making Club, Caligraphy Club, SOS Brigade, or Light Music Club" Natsumi thought back to her cousin and how she had heard that she was in the Light Music Club.

"Why don't you try the Light Music Club? You play an instrument, don't you?" Aoi suggested.

"Don't they play castanets in the Light Music Club?" Natsumi returned, her own thought train taking over

"No, it's like a band I hear"

"Uh, well I used to play drums, so I guess that counts right?"

"Why don't we pay a visit later?" Aoi thought this was the only hope of salvaging Natsumi's hopes of joining a club that would interest her.

"Ungh, I suppose then, Hey, it says here that they're playing for the festival next week, maybe we can check them out there?" Natsumi said excitedly.

-.

"Guys! I just realised!" Azusa said as she stumbled into the clubroom.

"Eh?" Ui said as she turned her head from her cup of tea.

"We're playing the school festival!"

Jun spat her tea across the table.


	4. Kickstart! New band!

Wrapped up in the manga ending, and the dramatic ending, I'll write this! If any of you read the manga, I found it to go slightly the way I wrote this story, as in Azusa says that she'll form a new band with Jun and Ui. This story, incidentally, is based on a personal prediction I had for a series future/ending, but it looks like there may be no future for the series. But hey, let's rejoice in everything K-ON! And be thankful we were given such moe to fill our lives, though I personally feel like K-ON! Is a cute anime, it's deeper than that for me, to watch it gives me unexplainable happiness. Gee, that felt like an obituary of sorts.

To clear things up, yes, Akiyama Natsumi IS related to Mio. I had trouble creating a new personality that fit in with the series/filled in the gaps for the new Light Music Clubs and giving her a unique appearance away from Mio, but still retaining some traits, but I hope she's been portrayed the way I wanted it. :P

Thanks again for the reviews, always good to have some feedback, I'll try to polish up the new writing style I was trying in the last chapter to make it easier to read for y'all and try some of the suggested changes. Another note is that I did use some form of dividers for the scenes, but they didn't seem to come up on the website, which I've only just noticed -.-', that'll get addressed in this chapter. Also I've taken note of making the chapters longer, I don't usually write my chapters this long, so don't get used to it ^^; I'll be aiming at 2,000 for a regular chapter, this one was longer because I had be at a certain point before Chapter 5. Thanks again guys/gals, I kinda forgot that this IS a fanfic, not a blog...

Enjoyyy.

* * *

Azusa was sat on the Light Music Club table with her head placed on the table facing the tape recorder on which the Ho-Kago Tea Time album had been recorded on and was listening back through the album.

"I have a new band and obviously with this we don't want to sound too similar to the old band, perhaps I should suggest moving this in a different direction? After all, she didn't want the next band to be an imitation." Azusa thought to herself before she was interrupted.

"A-zusa!" Jun burst into the room with her usual cheery demeanour.

"Oh, it's you Jun." She spoke without emotion, in comparison to Jun's lively entrance.

"I've got an idea for the festival!" She began as she threw her bag to one side and leant over the table to excitedly tell Azusa of her big plan.

Azusa sat up and paid attention, it wasn't going to be one of those stupid ideas that Jun jokily came up with, she seemed pretty serious. "What've you got in mind Jun?"

"I have a friend in Jazz club who's agreed to play with us on drums for the festival, I told her that we needed to play to get some new members in"

"Ah" Azusa's face lit up, she recalled the feeling of playing live again. "We should start practising right away if that's the case"

"Yeah!" Jun said contently as she rushed out of the music room to find her friend, as she was leaving the room, Ui entered.

"Hello?" She spoke softly as she entered, Azusa could tell she wasn't completely at home in the music room yet, after all it was her sisters old room, she probably felt like she was intruding still – how cute.

"Ui, come in, come in" Azusa welcomed her with a smiling face.

-.

Azusa filled Ui in on what Jun had just proposed and she seemed all too happy about it, finally being able to go up and play like her sister, Azusa could see it in her face. How did she know them both so well?

"Azusa-chan?" Ui began as she suddenly hit a snag in the plan somewhere.

"Hmm?"

"What about the girl that was related to Mio? Weren't you going to get a hold of her?" Ui inquired.

"Well" Azusa began, placing her index finger on her chin and looking into the distance, caught in her though train. "I figured she'd be a bit freaked out you see, I mean, how would we propose that to her? Not to mention we don't even know if she plays an instrument"

"I guess that's right" Ui replied, she didn't think of it either up until now.

"Hey guys!" Jun burst into the room, pulling her friend by the hand. She had a full fringe with long, brown hair, she looked rather classical and as if she did things by the book, and had a pretty face. "This is Ueno Kaede-san!" She announced as the girl entered the room, looking rather perplexed by everything she had just been presented with.

"I look forward to playing with you" She said confidently, and took a deep bow.

-.

Azusa gave all six of her strings a strum to test her tuning. Perfect. She turned to find the rest of her band were ready by now and now the question had to be answered.

"So what do you guys want to play?" She'd pondered it earlier and now it was crunch time to see what the others wanted.

"Let's not play any of that Ho-Kago stuff." Jun said immediately, she'd already thought about it evidently.

"How about you Ui?"

"I'm fine playing anything, but I think we should move away from the old Light Music Club too, to prove we're not a one-trick dog?" Ui responded too, as if it had been on her mind,

"Perfect, I was thinking that exactly!" Azusa smiled.

-.

They put down their instruments and sat around the Music rooms table with a sheet of paper with a short-list of their favourite songs. Jun and Azusa found themselves Juxtaposed.

"Azusa! C'mon, we can play a song or two in the way of a more traditional western rock band, like say Guns 'n' Roses? I mean who doesn't like that band?"

"Yeah, but I don't feel like a band of 4 girls could pull off that type of vocal style well enough, I like the idea of a more experimental band, try new things like The Beatles!"

"Lame, lame, lame. We're here to play Light Music and have fun Azusa, we don't need to be experimenting with our music at this stage"

"I've been playing the same kinda music with Ho-kago Tea Time, so I think we should take it in this direction to be clear how different things are, I am the president!"

The argument raged on as Ui made some tea and watched as Kaede sat passively sipping her tea, unaffected by what was happening in front of her.

Kaede was sat staring into her cup when she interrupted; "Why don't we just jam for a bit and see where it goes"

"Eh?" Azusa and Jun remarked, in unison. It was a good idea, better than sitting arguing.

-.

The four girls stood ready, looking at each other for someone to start.

"Kaede, lay something down" Jun ended the silence.

A simple beat echoed around the room as Jun stood watching, bobbing her head in rhythm looking for a place to come in. She removed her pick from her mouth and started playing with a simple bass-line that evolved.

Ui now joined in, adding guitar to the chords Jun was playing. This continued for a while, finally, still playing they turned to Azusa who was staring into the distance. The tune evolved fully before Azusa eventually joined in. She was messing around with a riff around the top strings to put over the top when suddenly they all looked at each other as if something had twigged.

"Azusa, vocals!" Jun shouted over the tune that they were playing.

"Me? I don't sing though?" Azusa said embarrassedly, trying not to lose focus over the intricate riff that she was now playing.

Ui stepped up to the mic and started humming a tune, she had no words but wanted to add some vocals over the top.

Azusa noticed this and tried to take it somewhere. She also stepped towards the second mic and began harmonising with Ui on what appeared to be some sort of chorus line.

"Whatever" Jun said as she approached the final mic and started singing proper lyrics and a melody that vaguely complimented the back-up singing that Ui and Azusa were doing.

They were sat playing for a good 5 minutes before they figured out a definite tune for the song, verse and chorus vaguely sorted before they had something that sounded half-decent. They were exercising three part harmonies for their choruses and Jun's shouting-type vocal style for their verses.

The sound eventually came to a stop as Kaede hit a small drum roll to signal that they had ended.

"That wasn't bad" Jun said finally as they sat down with their instruments slung around their shoulders, Kaede sat at the drums, sipping a bottle of water.

"I think we have our sound" Azusa smiled.

The door crashed open and Sawako flew into the room. "And some new outfits!" Sawako grinned as she shoved Waitress outfits in the girls faces.

"Did you hear us, Sawako-sensei?" Azusa said, pushing the outfit out of her face.

"Eh?" She began. "Oh right, yeah. It seems weird hearing something non-Ho-kago coming out of this room, but yeah, it sounds alright, as a sound. Just develop some structured songs, for all our sakes" She laughed.

The girls half-smiled to each other. They didn't know whether to take that as a positive.

-.

Ui was sat in front of her TV watching the evening shows. There was a plate of onigiri placed on the table and Ui was nonchalantly chewing on one as her eyes stared at the screen, unblinking. Ui was snapped out of her trance by the sound of her phone vibrating on the table.

"Oh?" she looked down to see the phone rotating. 'Yui' the screen read. Ui's face lit up with joy, she immediately flipped open the phone and spoke with a tone she thought she had forgotten. "Onee-chan!" Ui smiled.

"Ui? Did I pack my swimming costume?" Yui's familiar voice came down the phone.

"I don't think so, why?" Ui responded to Yui's question immediately, seemed like greetings weren't going to happen.

"We're going to a swimming pool, so I need it Ui, but thanks, I'll just go buy one"

"Sorry Onee-chan, seems like I didn't think of everything after all" She jokily scolded herself

"ahh, it's fine Ui" Yui responded in her usual, light hearted tone. "How are you Ui? Are you keeping well?"

"I never thought you'd be asking me that question before I'd asked you" Ui laughed

"I'm doing fine though!" Yui spoke clearly down the phone as if she was assuring herself.

"I joined the Light Music Club" She spoke proudly, she couldn't wait to hear her sister's response

"oooh! Wow Ui! I'm so excited, you're going to have lots of fun!" Yui's infectious excitement was still reaching Ui over the phone. "But wait Ui, don't you have a guitar? What's it's name?"

"No, no" Ui responded "I've been borrowing one for now, but I should be getting a loan from our parents to buy myself one, Azusa and Jun are going to help me out"

"Buy a nice one Ui! Send me a picture when you have" Yui began "Your guitar and Gitah will be brothers!" There was a knock heard on Yui's end of the line and Mugi's voice was heard. "Ah, Ui, we're going now, I'll speak to you more tonight!"

"Okay, bye now, tell everyone I said hi" The call hung up and Ui flipped her phone shut and had a moment of silence, staring at her phone. She'd missed her sister and it was lonely without her, but she could tell that a new adventure was lieing in wait just ahead.

-.

The band continued to practice playing for the next 2 weeks, nearing the eve of the school's culture festival. Kaede's cymbal crashed to once again signal the end of the run through of their first song, Azusa couldn't remember the last time she had practiced for this long for these many days in sequence, come to think of it, she didn't think she had.

"That was really sharp, everyone" Jun smiled, Azusa had found that Jun had a lot of redeeming qualities in a band situation, especially the one keep people going for extended periods of time as well as her critical eye if someone had played something that had been a small bit out of tune and helped them fix it.

Though doubtless Jun got obsessive about it, as Azusa could now see her fussing over the tuning of an individual string of Ui's.

"C'm'ere Ui!" she demanded as she pulled the head of Ui's borrowed guitar over to herself and twiddled the tuning in the smallest rotation before recoiling in pride and claiming that she had 'fixed the band'

"Speaking of guitars everyone, would it be too troublesome to come with me after school to come and get my own guitar?" She spoke with such innocence in her face that Azusa suddenly understood why Yui had glomped her so much.

"Awesome! Sure we'll come with you, you'll want to pick the perfect guitar Ui!" Jun excitedly added to the already buzzing scene.

-.

The four stepped inside the music shop and instantly the assistant recognised Azusa.

"Ah, you are the friend of Miss Mugi!" he had raced over to them and bowed deeply to her. She didn't know that Mugi all of a sudden rubbed her royalty up on her friends.

"We're looking for a guitar for my friend" Azusa smiled, pointing to Ui.

"So were you looking for a lighter model?" he asked

"I don't think so, I'm used to my sister's guitar and it's heavier" Ui laughed to herself.

"in that case please browse our wares and don't hesitate to call me over" the shop assistant nervously smiled as he turned to return to the register.

Ui was pacing up and down the guitar aisle, her index finger placed on her lips, with an inquisitive expression looking up at the guitars.

Eventually Ui had stopped her repeated pacing and pointed to a guitar on the top shelf. Ui pointed to a Gibson Firebird that had a white and blue finish for the pickguard, the neck was thick and it had an appealing shimmer about it.

-.

Ui sat in her room opposite her new guitar on her bed. "It's so pretty" She said as she welled up inside with happiness and pride on having her own guitar, she'd always wanted one of her own, considering she'd been playing her sister's guitar for long enough.

"Is there any daily maintenance I need to do for my guitar?" Ui typed into her phone before addressing it to Azusa and sending it. She had found herself becoming obsessive over her guitar's welfare, polishing it regularly and she had only just got it home from the music shop.

"No, it should be fine with only a weekly maintenance" The text read back to Ui. She turned to a table that she had placed a small mountain of cleaning products, waiting to clean every nook and cranny.

Ui eventually sat down and began to play her guitar, she found it lighter than Git-ah, and more similar weight to the fender that she had been practising with in the Music room, which was helpful.

-.

The next day the new Light Music Club were sat around the usual table with Jun scrawling on a piece of paper hastily as the others sat watching her, silently sipping their tea.

"This is our set list!" Jun triumphantly waved the piece of paper above her head.

"Can you put it down so we can read it?" Azusa remarked.

They all agreed to swap some songs out and shorten their list to clip the time Azusa had recalled the allotted time was.

"Sawa-chan?" Jun burst into the teachers office followed by Jun, Ui and Kaede to get Sawako's opinions.

"That's all good and well, but you need to book the auditorium first, remembering that the festival is in 2 days..."

-.

Azusa nervously knocked on the door of the student council and opened the door.

"I'm here to request the use of the auditorium on the day of the festival" Azusa formally said before bowing.

A girl with light brown, wavy hair had welcomed her. "I'm sorry but you should have handed this in at least last week..."

Azusa scolded herself at her tardiness.

"I'll go and get you a form, just be quick about it" The girl said before she turned and reached into a drawer and pulled out a form.

Azusa bowed deeply and took the piece of paper. "Thank you..." Azusa didn't know her name, it would help to know someone reliable in the student council, like Nodoka, so she thought she would take the opportunity to note down at least someone's name.

"Oh, it's fine. My name is Aoi"

"Aoi? I'm Nakano Azusa, a senior" Azusa noted the girls pretty smile and innocent features. She leant on the nearest desk and filled the form out quickly before handing it back to Aoi. "Thanks Aoi-chan... It's alright if I call you that right?" Azusa smiled

"Thank you. Please call me what you like, Azusa-senpai"

"Well than, see you some other time" Azusa turned and made an exit. She had just been called senpai. "I must be getting old" She thought to herself.

-.

The final practice before the festival was nervous and messy.

"C'mon, let's pull this together!" Azusa commanded, as she watched Jun freak out from the musical tragedy that had just occurred.

"How are we going to perform in this state?" Jun whined as she lost her composure.

"Jun, c'mon let's run through again, just focus on what everyone else is playing, right? Ui, make note of the pace your playing at okay? Kaede, you're doing fine, but give us some more energy" She smiled as she addressed the band before turning to strum the opening riff again.

It was going to take a little more than what they had to win over the crowd like Ho-kago did.


	5. On the brink

**Late coming, I know, but I promise to be more regular with this. Sorry again o.o'**

* * *

"You're on in 10, Light Music Club" A girl with a clipboard had been whizzing around backstage, darting in between the separate acts who had stationed themselves in the small room.

Azusa had recognised the girl as who she had called 'Nodoka no 2' she was a new member of the student council and often reminded her of Nodoka.

"A-zusa" Jun whined as she waved her hand in front of Azusa's face.

Azusa shot up from her lazy slouch she had entranced herself in. "eeh?"

"Don't doze off when we're going on in 10 minutes" Jun was sat on a table, slouched over her bass guitar, it's neck hovering above Kaede who was sat next to Jun. They had all been observing Ui pacing back and forth, trying to occupy herself. Azusa observed that Ui wasn't used to sitting around waiting.

The practice before the concert had gone terribly, they were all in a terrible mood about the upcoming gig. Azusa knew she had to act to liven them all up, or it'd all go horribly wrong. Would Mio and the others look favourably on Azusa if they could see that she had let the Light Music Club turn into the musical shamble that were practicing in that famous music room last night?

Azusa stood up and took a few paces and turned to face the new Light Music Club.

"I know that practice hasn't gone terrifically since we've formed. I know that we don't have all the members we'd like to see. I know we've had arguments about exactly what we're playing. But right now, all that matters at this moment in time, is that we go out there, and we perform to the very best of our ability. I want to see all of you giving it your all" Azusa paused as she saw the understanding on her band's faces. "Together. As a team" She finalised, finding herself slightly welling up. This part was the essence of what Ho-Kago was about. It was having fun with a couple of friends, and this is what they seemed to lack.

* * *

"Let's do this, everyone!" Azusa excitedly spoke to her band as the curtains rose up. Light burst forth onto the four as they were showered in a welcoming applause.

The crowd had a look of boredom and expectancy on their faces.

Some older faces that Azusa recognised were on the edge of their seats, intrigued to see what would happen this time.

"1,... 2,... 3,... 4..."

* * *

The day was bright and the sun was glaring down on the school's welcoming festival.

Natsumi was sat on a bench in the middle of the school, meekly licking an ice lolly. She had heard that the Light Music Club were playing from some passers by.

"Light Music, huh?" She thought to herself. Natsu was sat all by herself because she knew that Aoi had been helping out with the Student Council. She pulled the last of her ice lolly into her mouth and tossed the bare stick in the bin next to the bench she was sat on.

"I best go check out the Light Music Club, see what they're all about" She said to herself as she started walking towards the auditorium from where she could hear some kind of concert going on.

* * *

Natsumi pushed open the auditorium doors to be greeted by a wave of sound.

She saw four girls on stage radiating.

The middle one had short, brown pig tails. Her voice was shouty and gave off an edgy vibe. She was hammering at her bass with the pick and a nice solid, bass line was vibrating through the auditorium.

The one on the right had black long pony tails either side of her head. Natsumi could tell she was putting her all into her performance, her hands were frantically moving up and down the fret board, guitar whining a catchy riff.

Guitarist no 2 was stood to the left and had a short pony tail shooting out of the back of her head. She could tell she was central to the band and her power chords gave structure to the rest of the band who were occasionally losing timing, only to be corrected by this girl. Her voice was harmonious and calming, in juxtaposition to the bassists.

Oh, and the drummer was mediocre. Natsumi knew she could do better.

Natsumi could tell that this band were putting their all into their performance, and was incredibly self-evident.

The band eventually polished up and the bassist called out the bands appreciation to the jumping crowd, whilst wiping her face down with a towel that she threw down next to her microphone. "This one's our last" She called. Natsumi found herself caught up in the moment too, cheering wildly.

* * *

The curtain fell as the girls exited the stage. Natsumi found herself entranced by the alluring performance. The band's technical performance was terrible and their vocals needed work. But they seemed really happy what they were doing. Natsumi was intrigued by the performance to say the least.

"It's settled, looks like I'm gonna follow Mio" She smiled to herself as she exited the auditorium.

* * *

Jun swung the door open and let out a massive sigh before collapsing on the chairs inside the music room, followed by the rest of the band. Azusa quietly content with the performance sat next to Jun's head whilst Ui assumed her role as tea maker and scurried into the corner. Kaede had returned to the jazz room.

"That was exhausting!" Jun moaned, with her eyes shut, her head now in Azusa's lap.

"Wasn't it fun?" Azusa squeaked slightly, not really noticing the excitement in her own voice.

"You're right, I can see how Onee-chan had such fun" Ui spoke, turning to place a saucer and mug into Azusa's hands.

"I wonder if we'll get any new members" Jun groaned again, she was virtually falling asleep in Azusa's lap.

"I really hope so" Ui sat at the drum kit placed in the room and stomping on the bass pedal in steady rhythm. "We need a full-time drummer" She whined.

Sawa-chan flung the door back and lazily stomped into the room. "Hi hi everyone" she slouched. Ui turned to go and make her tea out of instinct.

"You did great girls" Sawako lazily spoke as she dragged herself over to the table and sat down, slumping into a sleepy mess on the table.

"Thanks" Ui returned, smiling and placing her tea in front of her.

"Sawa-chan" Azusa interupted.

"Neh?"

"What would you do it the Light Music Club would have to disband?"

Sawako shot up in her seat and turned around. "What makes you think it would have to disband?"

"Well, we don't actually have the 4 members needed to keep a band going" Azusa calmly replied, sipping her tea.

"What do you want me to do?" Sawako replied, obviously detecting that Azusa had wanted something from her.

"D'you remember those t-shirts you made?" Azusa began

"You want me to make some for you guys?"

"Think of it as a type of flyer" Azusa had stepped up her game in trying to recruit new members. The last thing she could imagine is not being able to play music with a good group of friends. She wanted to salvage that anyway she could.

* * *

"Please come and visit the Light Music Club!"

The day after the festival, Azusa, Jun and Ui were stood outside wearing the t-shirts that Sawako had made, they were plain white with the words "Light Music" flashing across them. Their objective was to get everyone wearing one. If they had one, they were bound to come visit, after all, the room name was on the bottom of the t-shirt.

"I'm thirrstyyyy, Azusaaa" Jun began tugging at Azusa's t-shirt. She got easily diverted from tasks not related to music, especially when she was uncomfortable.

"Here" Ui said, as she pulled a juice carton from her bag behind her.

Jun sat at the bench behind them and began sucking like an infant on the carton.

"You know what we need?" Ui began.

"Wha?- Join the light music club!" Azusa responded to Ui in between calling to some random passers by.

Ui reached into her bag and pulled something out, Azusa couldn't see it, she was too busy trying to engage the new first years walking past. She felt something lightly touch her head, it felt like a headband. "Ui, what is this?" Azusa called to her, offering out t-shirts.

Ui smiled. Jun laughed.

"Cat ears"

* * *

Again, the Light Music Club crashed in the room as the day grew on to an end and they had to call it a day. Another unsuccessful day. Sawa-chan had told them that they had no one coming into the music room or even come up the stairs at all that day. They had failed.

They all crashed around the table, staring into their cups of tea.

"It can't end. Not like this." Azusa began. "We're the Light Music Club! We can't go down!"

Ui placed her arm around Azusa. "Maybe we're just not meant to continue the legacy" She comforted.

"But I'm letting everyone down" Azusa began welling up and her voice shaking.

Jun stared at Azusa solemnly. "A-Azusa..." She had never seen her anywhere near tears before.

There was a long silence. Was this it? The longevity of the Light Music Club was waning.

Sawako walked into the room and closed the door silently. She also was in a saddened mood and placed a sheet of paper on the table and slowly pushed it in front of Azusa.

"Notice of Club closing" it was headed.

"I'm so sorry, girls"

Azusa swiped it off of the table and collapsed into her arms. Her sobs were painfully loud for the rest of the club sat around the table. The prior weeks Azusa had been saddened by the departure of her sempai's and now this had occurred. She couldn't take it. Why couldn't everything be like the old days?

She was given one task to do and she couldn't even do that. Why wasn't she able to just do the things she enjoyed?

A quiet knock was heard at the door.

Azusa's head shot up, her tear-filled eyes staring at the door. She wiped her eyes and spoke. "Come in"

Jun turned in her seat amazed, staring at the door, entranced.

Ui stood up in her chair slowly in disbelief.

The door creaked open like it usually did and a pale face poked it's way into the room.

The girl had dark brown hair and familiar black eyes with a cutesy-face.

"Is this the,.. Light Music Club?"


End file.
